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BP Cleaning Times.... Faster & Eaiser then smokeless !


Mad Dog McGee

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BP or Smokeless I clean all my guns as soon as I git home from shooting .

 

BP I use hot water and dawn dish soap then Balistal .

Smokeless I use good old Hops#9

MMR.

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Shhhh!

 

Next thing you know all these guys will be buying up all the Black Powder.

 

 

Yeah, this whole idea of not cleaning your weapons at the end of the day is a bit of a mind-blower for me. If I put a dirty gun in my safe, I'd be up all night with a guilt trip. More than 38 years later, I can still hear Senior Drill Instructor Sgt Combs screaming, "If you take care of your rifle, it will take care of you!"

 

Get over it. Why are you still letting that guy intimidate you? I never clean my guns the same day after shooting Black Powder. I try to do it within a week, but I ain't telling you how long I have sometimes gone. Do it right, and there is no rust.

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Now, I've never shot BP in competition, but use it for hunting. Knocks deer dead, 'nuff said. It's what the .45 Colt was made for, after all. I've shot flintlocks for the past 30 years (hunting and in competition), so cleaning my gun after shooting is wired into my DNA. Even after a CAS shoot, my conscience won't let me put a dirty gun, shot with smokeless, away (the old timers used to say that you shouldn't sleep until your gun is clean), so I clean my guns after every shooting session (yeah, an anal retentive thing, I guess). Between the two - smokeless and Holy Black, I prefer black. Water and some Ballistol, and I'm good to go. And my conscience is clear.

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My 2 Cents for Shooting 100 % APP Substitute

Majoriity of my shooting is with 58 Pietta Cap Guns and on occasion NM Vaqueros ,SxS12 Gauge and a Uberti 73 in 45.

Windex with Vinegar for Cleaning and Militec for Lube & Bore

Outside Surfaces wiped down with Silicone before going to the Safe

If it is going to be a day or so before I can get to cleaning my stuff I spray the Bores & Cylinders with Balistol and come back to them later ( No Issues )

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Through misadventure I allowed one of my 1860s to go 4 months without cleaning.

 

Turned a shotgun mop in each chamber, pulled a boresnake through the barrel, brass brush on hammer and cylinder, bast of compressed air and sprayed with Ballistol.

Done. No damage.

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When I shoot smokeless I clean my guns religously, once around Christmas and then again around Easter! Seriously though, like Duece and others, I generally wipe my guns down and then put them in the safe after shooting and only clean the bores and chambers when they obviously need it (a thousand rounds or more is not out of the question). Maybe if I cleaned them every time I shot smokeless, like I do with black powder, it would be a lot easier when I do clean them. To me, the savings in time and effort is worth it when shooting smokeless. However, if smokeless powder doesn't become more available soon, then black powder or subs may be the only answer!

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ya know the first question is missleading at best

some folks never clean their house as an example

or

real black powder I feel needs sooner attention than subs

I know, as I have tried them both

 

just look at the discoloration of your brass, if YOU do NOTHING, day one, day two, day three etc, take a few photos

do the same with brass from real black, and compare to subs

I would suspect you may see a difference, I did

yes brass is softer then the steel in your guns, but, cause and effect should sill apply to different degrees

 

in summery

sub powder you can be more lax,

 

there was a proffessional hunter that claimed a certain sub bp powder was good for 5,000 shots without cleaning in a muzzel loader rifle

I totally disagree, but what the hec

milage will vary

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Cleaning after shooting real BP is messy but Very easy, the drawback is it needs to be done every time you shoot.

Cleaning after shooting smokeless does not need to be done very often (just a quik wipedown at the end of the day)..

but it's a major Pain to do compared to cleaning BP.

 

 

BUT... If you guys do it the way I do, it's EASY !!!!

 

When I've shot several matches using smokeless & my guns are needing a seriously good cleaning...

I shoot a match or two using BP....

The BP burns off all the carbon, lead & gunk the smokeless left behind and they clean up just like they'd only ever seen BP

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Cleaning after shooting real BP is messy but Very easy, the drawback is it needs to be done every time you shoot.

Cleaning after shooting smokeless does not need to be done very often (just a quik wipedown at the end of the day)..

but it's a major Pain to do compared to cleaning BP.

Howdy Again

 

Actually, it does not need to be done every time you shoot. When I attend a two day match, I seldom clean my guns after the first day. I usually don't even spritz them with anything as so many shooters do. I just put them away dirty and pull them out and shoot them the next day. Never had a problem.

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Howdy Again

 

Actually, it does not need to be done every time you shoot. When I attend a two day match, I seldom clean my guns after the first day. I usually don't even spritz them with anything as so many shooters do. I just put them away dirty and pull them out and shoot them the next day. Never had a problem.

+1

 

Also, like Silver Sam does, shooting BP in them in a couple matchs after smokeless cleans them real good!

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how often you have to clean depends on many things

  • :ph34r: real black :ph34r: powder or a sub (sure has made a difference in all my equipment)
  • gun tollerances, I had a pair of pistols that could not go three stages without cleaning the gap at the front of the cylinder at the forcing cone area

 

when I look at spent brass after black powder shootin, that shows me clues as to the importance of cleaning (one way or the other)

 

mileage will vary as usual ;)

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